2019 Games of the Year

If you've read any of my previous end of year blogs, you might know that I make up all kinds of fake categories just so I can talk about certain things or give love to games I enjoyed that didn't make my top 10 games of the year. This year is no different, though I've significantly pared down the amount of categories after I realized how long it was becoming. If you want to hear me talk about other categories like Best Soundtrack, Best Weapon, and Best Non-2019 Game of the Year, I discuss those categories in depth with my buddies Luke Roberts and Chris Schram on the latest episode of the Error Machine Podcast, which you can listen to here.

Only a handful of categories with blurbs I tried to keep fairly short before we get into my top 10 games of the year. Before you continue though, this is your official warning that there may be SPOILERS AHEAD.

Agents are GOOOOO!

Worst NPC

Tiny Tina

Tiny Tina is the worst character in any video game ever. I chose "Worst NPC" as a category just so I can talk about how much I hate her. She's so insufferable that she makes the second worst character in the series, Sir Hammerlock, tolerable by comparison.

I say this as someone who is a huge fan of the Borderlands series. I rank Borderlands 2 in my top 5 favorite games of all-time, despite how much I hate Tiny Tina. She's not funny, she's not cute, she's a one-note, poorly written character. I hate Tiny Tina so much that I want her voice actress, Ashly Burch, to get less work. That hurts to say because Ashly Burch is a pretty good voice actor. She did awesome as Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn, Parvatti was my favorite companion in The Outer Worlds, but Tiny Tina negates any goodwill she can ever receive for anything she does until the Lord comes back.

Biggest Disappointment

Yoshi's Crafted World

Yoshi's Woolly World is an incredible game that my wife and I played together. We were beside ourselves with excitement for Yoshi's Crafted World this year. Then we started playing and realized that Nintendo didn't want two grown, capable adults to play together. They designed the co-op specifically for an adult to play with a child. If a section is too difficult, just have the adult player pick up the child's Yoshi and carry them to the next section. Great in theory. It would have been greater had you had the ability to turn that off so my wife and I didn't have to constantly stop our game because we kept jumping on each other by accident.

Most unnecessary remake/remaster

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Hey, remember when Nintendo decided to remake some classic games and put them on their Switch for a new audience to enjoy? You don't remember that? Oh wait, that's because they remade Bowser's Inside Story, Superstar Saga, and Kirby's Epic Yarn and put them on the 3DS, a system that they don't support anymore with no fanfare. Let me say here that Bowser's Inside Story is one of my favorite RPGs ever and certainly one of my favorite games on the original DS. 

As much as I'm willing to forgive Nintendo and look past some of the stupid decisions they make, they remade a game for the dying 3DS that was already capable of being played on the 3DS in its original form. Then the company that developed the game went out of business due to poor sales. Come on, Nintendo, you're better than that.

Character I Most Wanted To Punch in the Face

V - Devil May Cry 5

Look at this idiot.
Freakin' nerd and his poetry.

Go listen to My Chemical Romance and brood somewhere else.

Still my favorite character to play as, though.

Game I'm Most Sick of Hearing About

Apex Legends/Untitled Goose Game

This isn't about hating these games. I didn't even play Untitled Goose Game, and I didn't hate Apex Legends. I'm just sick of hearing about them. People (you know, the internet) acted like Untitled Goose Game was the most innovative and groundbreaking indie game that has ever been released. These were the same people who thought Goat Simulator was a landmark achievement in modern gaming. OMG it's so wacky! Look at that goose! Isn't that crazy and hilarious?! I'm sure that I would enjoy Untitled Goose Game if I ever get around to playing it, but we need to stop treating it like it's anything more than just another goofy indie game.

Apex Legends, though? I played a few rounds when it was first released. It was fine. I'm not personally a fan of the battle royale genre, but for those that are, this seems like one of the best ones, and I'm glad you're enjoying it, but I'm sick of hearing about it. Enjoy it in silence, please.

Edit: I received a text from a friend while editing this blog that Untitled Goose Game is currently available for free on Xbox Game Pass, so yes, I will be playing this game.

Worst Title

Gears 5

Gears of War.
Gears of War 2.
Gears of War 3.
Gears of War 4.
Gears 5.

Why? Why did they do this? Yes, I understand that everyone shortens the title to just "Gears" when they talk about the series, but that doesn't make it right. Maybe I'm overreacting, maybe no one else sees it as a big deal, but the way I see it is that they had a perfect sequence of sequel titles, and then they just decided to ruin it for no reason. I hate this title more than I should.

And now, on to my top 10 games of the year. There were some notable games I didn't get a chance to play this year that, if I had, likely would have been in contention for a top 10 spot. I've listed those games below.

Notable games that I didn't get a chance to play this year:
Luigi's Mansion 3
Control
Dragon Quest Builders 2

10. Far Cry: New Dawn

The Far Cry series has always been one of extremely high highs and equally extreme low lows, with the one exception being Far Cry 2, which gamers seem to be split on. I got on board with Far Cry 3, which was one of my favorite games of the Xbox 360/PS3 era. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was even better to me due to its obvious 80s cinema influences which saw them taking cues from Terminator, RoboCop, Aliens, Rocky, and many more. Far Cry 4 was the first platinum trophy I ever earned.

Then came Far Cry Primal, an abysmal title that I hated from the get-go, and Far Cry 5, whose cult-based plot never interested me. Then, we have this year's Far Cry: New Dawn, a direct sequel to Far Cry 5 taking place nearly two decades after the bombs dropped. Gameplay wise, there wasn't much here that you're not going to get in other Far Cry games. It's a tried and true formula.

I didn't feel compelled to go for the platinum trophy, in fact, I didn't even feel compelled to find all of the companions or do different mission types outside of the ones mandated by the story. But what did grab me were the villainous twins, Mickey and Lou, rebuilding the settlement of prosperity, and the community of hangers-on of the Eden's Gate cult.

What gave me the most bang for my buck was the same thing previous Far Cry games offered, the bandit camps. Taking over bandit camps as a stealthy archer is the thing that made me fall in love with the series, and while it wasn't always easy, having the option to replay each camp up to three times with harder enemies was a major incentive for me. If Ubisoft decided to make Far Cry Bandit Camps: The Game, I would be on board.

9. Gears 5

I've been a Gears fan since the very start, the original game being one of the major reason I decided to purchase an Xbox 360. I don't play the multiplayer, I'm strictly a campaign and Horde guy. Back in 2016, I gave Gears of War 4 my number one game of that year on a blog like this one, but if I could go back, I would change that. I think it was the fact that it was a new Gears game released in a fairly lackluster year of gaming (at least for me) that made me give it my number one spot by default based on my love of the series. In hindsight, Gears of War 4 is mostly forgettable. The campaign was the worst in the series outside of GoW: Judgement, and because of the bounty system, it was nearly impossible for a game of Horde to go past wave 20 without 3 players backing out, assuming that didn't happen immediately.

Despite having the worst title of 2019, Gears 5 improved greatly in the areas that matter to me. The campaign shed some light on questions fans had, had some decent character development, and forced you into making a choice you didn't want to make in the final chapters. In fact, at some point I need to go back and play that section again so I can make the other choice. In that moment, playing as Kait, I made the choice I felt she would have genuinely made, and it made me feel feelings that I didn't know Gears could make me feel.

My only nitpick regarding the campaign is that its semi-open-world structure left me feeling like I wasn't making genuine progress. I don't think that's a universal thing that everybody felt, but that was my experience and it just felt strange for a Gears game. Horde is vastly improved from Gears of War 4, removing the class system which sometimes made victory feel entirely contingent upon whether or not you had an engineer on the team and that they knew what they were doing. Although I do miss playing as a heavy and having 16 boomshot rounds at my disposal at all times.

Escape is a new mode that's nice to have, but wasn't able to hold my attention. I played through it once, had a decent time, but ultimately never came back to it and don't see myself doing so anytime soon. One of the major bummers of Gears 5 compared to GoW 4 is the lack of unlockable characters. I had lots of fun unlocking new characters and skins for use in Horde mode, but in Gears 5 you're limited to the characters provided and the few skins you can unlock (though I'm sure more and more will be added over time), which you'll likely never unlock if you don't pay real money for them. It's also a bummer that they don't allow for more than one player to play as the same character. This means that if I've taken time to build up my J.D. to level 10, but another player equips him and the game decides to let that person use him instead of me, I'm stuck choosing another character that I may have no perks for.

These are minor complaints for a game that I really enjoyed. I haven't played Gears 5 in a bit due to the holiday season hitting with its big titles, but Gears is a series that I've always played consistently over the years, and I don't see why Gears 5 wouldn't be the same.

8. Valfaris

In 2019, we finally received a new Contra game in the form of Contra: Rogue Corps. It was terrible. However, we also received two games that were heavily influenced by Contra and are better at being Contra than the actual Contra game we got. Understand? The first game I'm referring to is Blazing Chrome--one of the final games cut from my top ten this year--and the second game is Valfaris.

Valfaris was developed by Steel Mantis, whose previous effort was Slain: Back From Hell. Slain was a game that I picked up on PS4 because it was always on sale for the weird price of $3.24, and after playing for about a half hour, left me upset that I spent that much money on it. I could have used that to buy two large coffees at a gas station. I could have cussed 13 times and put 13 quarters in a swear jar. I could have saved another $1.76 and gone to GameStop to put a pre-order down on a better game. I didn't much care for Slain is what I'm getting at.

If there's any game on my top ten this year that could be considered a dark horse, it's Valfaris. I was aware of the game, but it wasn't on my radar in terms of being something that I definitely had to play. I figured it would be something that I would eventually pick up cheap and like slightly more than Slain. But I had a buddy (the aforementioned Luke Roberts) who said he was really enjoying it, and based on that, took a chance and picked up a copy. I don't regret that purchase at all.

If I had to describe Valfaris in one phrase, I would say that it's a heavy metal space opera equally influenced by Contra and Slayer. Each new area looks like it could have been ripped straight from an 80s thrash-metal album cover. The metal soundtrack is so good that it almost makes you forget how many times you just died to the same boss. Valfaris is a difficult game. It won't be the hardest game you'll ever play, but it's going to give you a hearty challenge. Luckily, the game is very generous with checkpoints following major encounters, and you'll need them because Valfaris doles out boss battles like candy.

While no one section gave me too much trouble, the penultimate boss, the ascension to the final boss, and the final boss itself did make what would be 20 minutes of gameplay turn into a two hour war of attrition. Despite that, I never got too frustrated because I always felt like I was getting closer and closer to winning. I always felt like I was improving my pattern recognition, my blocking, and my understanding of how I was supposed to be fighting these enemies. It was like Dark Souls except I was actually enjoying myself.

7. Pixel Puzzle Collection

For the first time since I started doing my games of the year blogs, a mobile game makes it into my top ten. Pixel Puzzle Collection is the completely free Picross game from Konami. There's no waiting until a meter fills up before you can play the next puzzle, no special currency to buy for more levels, it's simply a Picross game filled with hundreds of puzzles calling back to the likes of Contra, Castlevania, Gradius, and all the other classic Konami franchises with some spicy modern remixes of classic tunes to keep your head bobbing while tackling a tricky puzzle.

I've been a fan of Picross for a long time, I even rank Picross 3D in my top 10 games of all-time. Mix your franchise with Picross and I'll give it a go. The Legend of Zelda Picross? Loved it. Pokemon Picross? The only Pokemon game I've ever played and I played it daily for over a year. So when I heard about Pixel Puzzle Collection, it was an immediate download. Seeing as it's free, it's very easy for me to recommend to both those that love Picross games and those that have never played one.

6. River City Girls

Not counting the long line of licensed games under their belt, WayForward's games have always been hit or miss for me. I'm either blown away or completely underwhelmed by them. River City Girls was a game that I knew I would play eventually, but it wasn't a priority. Much like Valfaris, it was recommended by a friend (Luke really gave me some good recommendations this year) and I also watched some YouTube reviews. I became more interested but I still wasn't completely sold. Then Limited Run Games announced they were going to be publishing the physical version. Being the collector I am, I figured if I'm ever going to play it, I would want the physical cartridge, so I pre-ordered the Switch version and never looked back.

If there's anything WayForward nails, it's aesthetics. I love the way their games look. Whether it's with a beautiful cartoon look or the classic retro style, I can't get enough of WayForward's visuals. As much as I love the way the game looks, I love the soundtrack even more. If I had to rank my favorite soundtracks of the year, behind River City Girls would have been Death Stranding, but the gap between one and two is enormous. I don't listen to game soundtracks in my free time, but RCG's has been on consistent rotation in my car these past few months, especially the songs with lyrics.

The game reminds me of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim universe, not only the graphic novels, but also the movie (a personal favorite of mine) and the game based on the movie. That shouldn't be too far-fetched, as River City Girls is a sequel to the Kunio Kun games (which includes River City Ransom) and O'Malley's universe is heavily influenced by Kunio Kun. Likewise, the game's soundtrack features songs that remind me of the ones The Clash at Demonhead performed in the film.

That's all well and good, but what about the gameplay? The classic beat-em-up was in good hands here, with tons of moves to unlock for each character. RCG can be played single player or co-op. I played single player throughout as Kyoko, and what I found great is that the other character, Misako, leveled up alongside me even though I didn't play as her, which made it easy for me when I started New Game +. As mentioned a moment ago, both Kyoko and Misako have different move sets, and I never got tired of experimenting with moves after unlocking them.

River City Girls features a recruiting mechanic where an enemy combatant can be recruited and then used as a special attack. This feature is...fine. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, it was just kind of there. The idea is great, but the execution was not. The problem I found was that it required you to call in your recruits while perfectly lined up with enemies, otherwise they'll miss the attack. Even then, many times your recruit would still miss and the enemies would hit them, reducing the amount of times you can call the recruit back for help. A nice feature, but not necessary. My only other nitpicks are that parrying attacks is way too difficult and the ending basically makes the whole game pointless, so don't take the story too seriously, this one is about the journey and not the destination.

Plus, you can use a big fish as a weapon, so there's that.

5. Borderlands 3

I honestly considered making Borderlands 3 my most disappointing game of the year even though it still made my top 5. It's disappointing because of my history with the series. This should have been a surefire number one game of the year for me. At the end of the day, it's Borderlands' gameplay that saves it. I still find Borderlands 3 an incredibly fun game to play. It's everything surrounding the gameplay that's so disappointing. Perhaps I feel the way I do because of how much I allowed myself to be hyped up before release. Unfortunately, most of this entry is going to be me expressing my disappointment in the fact that Borderlands is not my game of the year.

Borderlands 3 was released in September, and my wife and I haven't even made it through the game once yet because it's not a priority the way Borderlands 2 was. In previous games, I felt like I consistently found new and better weapons, constantly experimenting with weapon types, elementals, and manufacturers. In B3, the weapon drops just aren't as impressive. While we haven't beaten the game yet, we are leveled in the mid-30s, so I assume we're getting there, and after every major mission or encounter, we're still getting green level weapons (the second lowest tier) that are worse than the weapons that we're carrying.

I don't think anyone comes to Borderlands for its story, but Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2 is a very memorable villain. He was trying to establish his dominance over Pandora but also believed that he was justified in his actions. He's easily the best villain in the series. Troy and Tyreen Calypso, however, are just awful. They're not awful because they're bad villains, they're awful because of the what Gearbox did with the story of B3. Troy and Tyreen are the equivalent of Twitch streamers and YouTube "influencers," which is a term that I hate more than anything in the world. Every time they appear, they're filming themselves and asking people to "Like, share, and obey." I think this is going to cause Borderlands 3 to become outdated very quickly. Where Borderlands 2 was the classic story of a villain wanting total control, Borderlands 3 will be out of vogue the moment we move on to a new fad and people no longer want to be influencers and want to be, I don't know, gypsies or whatever. Perhaps this is social commentary by Gearbox on how some view influencers as god-like leaders, but just because you have something to say doesn't mean it's a good premise for your game's story.

Then, we have the NPCs. The Borderlands series has always had its fair share of bad NPCs (have I told you about Tiny Tina?), but usually the ratio is about 50/50 in each game, but even the bad ones are memorable in some way. Borderlands 3 takes that ratio and makes it about 90/10 bad to good. I can't remember the names of any of them, and the only one that I can think of off the top of my head is the one guy who constantly bugs you to listen to his mix tape. Other than that, I'm just talking to quest givers with no substance.

I do have some positive things to say about Borderlands 3, believe it or not. The soundtrack is great; easily the best the series has ever had. The different areas are fewer but much larger than in previous games, and because of that, you won't find yourself needing to fast travel as much. I also appreciate that there aren't too many quests that require me to backtrack to previous areas, so the pacing is much better and whenever you reach a new section of the game you know you're going to have plenty to do.

Just to reiterate, I really enjoy Borderlands 3, but I do have to express my disappointment. My wife and I have put hundreds of hours into both Borderlands games (we don't count The Pre-Sequel) and Tales From The Borderlands is my favorite Telltale game. I got the platinum trophy in all three of those games because I loved being on Pandora and wasn't bothered by the mindless grinding. I don't think I'm going to do that here, and it's a shame.

4. The Outer Worlds

Given its pedigree, I think we all expected The Outer Worlds to be good. Even a casual fan of Bethesda RPGs like me was intrigued by the idea of a "bite-sized Fallout game." Space Fallout that you can complete in 20-30 hours? That's half the amount of time I put into Fallout 4 and a fourth of the time I put into Skyrim. Sign me up!

Had The Outer Worlds not been released on Xbox Game Pass, I probably wouldn't have played it by now. There were so many other games that I wanted to play or that were close to release that had I not been able to play it for free, I would have skipped it. I know not everyone is an Xbox player, but if you have an Xbox, spend the extra money and get Game Pass, it's easily the best service in gaming today.

Read any review of The Outer Worlds and you'll inevitably read about how well written the game is, and they're not wrong. It's really hard to pull off humor in video games. Think about it. How many games have actually made you laugh intentionally from a planned joke or gag? Probably not too many. The Outer Worlds pulls it off with a dry yet wacky sense of humor. The Outer Worlds is to Fallout what Spaceballs is to Star Wars.

Unlike previous games of the same ilk, I built my character to be a smooth talking hacker, whereas I usually put all my points into combat and stealth. I must say that I really enjoyed this type of character. I like being able to talk my way out of tough situations or schmooze my way through a conversation to get my way. If I ever get the time (unlikely) I may try a second run as a far less intellectual character, as I hear that it changes the way characters treat you, which would be interesting to see.

The Outer Worlds was the most surprising game of 2019 for me. It's a fun title for fans of the genre and a good one to start with for those not accustomed to the style.

3. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I've been down with Bloodstained since day one. I did not, however, help Kickstart the game. Following the debacle that was Mighty No. 9, I'm hesitant to give money to any game before release, lest I get burned by it. Even when everyone trashed the game for its generic art style prior to the visual overhaul, I was still on board.

A few months ago a wrote a blog called Top 5 Metroidvania Games That Aren't Metroid or Castlevania and I specifically disqualified Bloodstained from the list because, in every possible fashion except its title, Bloodstained is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 2. Had Bloodstained not been made by one of SotN's figureheads, fans would be crying plagiarism.

In my opinion, even though I loved Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (the less said about Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2, the better), I don't consider it a true Castlevania game. The last real Castlevania in my eyes is 2008's Order of Ecclesia on the Nintendo DS. Eleven years later, we get Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a true Castlevania game, but in more of a "the names have been changed to protect the innocent" kind of way.

But Bloodstained doesn't hide from its heritage, it embraces it. Some enemies, bosses, areas, familiars, and abilities are strikingly similar. Wait, you mean to tell me that there's a clock tower area that is everyone's least favorite section of the game and has detached heads that fly across the screen in an up-and-down fashion? I've never seen that before. What's this? I got the bad ending because I didn't have a specific item that allowed me to attack a spherical shape in the air? Don't tell me this isn't Symphony of the Night 2.

That isn't to say that Bloodstained doesn't have original ideas. The ability to craft items, weapons, and cook different meals that grant you permanent stat increases were great touches. It made me want to seek out the ingredients to make new dishes, and every time I made my way back to the safe house I would check to see if I had the right stuff to make new meals or to see what ingredients I was missing. The addition of side quests gave me an incentive to fight enemies that I normally would have avoided or skipped over because they weren't worth fighting. Most side quests boil down to "this type of enemy killed this person you don't know, go kill 5-10 of them and come back." At times it was annoying to have to go back to the safe house instead of being able to take on multiple quests at once, but luckily fast travel is a thing.

I really considered striving for the platinum trophy in Bloodstained, but the grinding required to cook every meal and craft every item is too great. I'll go for any trophy if it's considerate of my time. However, trophies that require me to kill every enemy type, complete the map, or seek out a secret boss that I otherwise wouldn't have known about, you better believe I'm going to get those.

If you're a fan of metroidvanias, if you're a fan of Symphony of the Night, don't put it off, play Bloodstained. It's currently free on Xbox Game Pass and can be found pretty cheap otherwise. I don't know if they've fixed the Switch version, but I played on PS4 and I ran into zero performance issues, so I suggest picking the game up on Sony's or Microsoft's console.

2. Death Stranding

Oh, boy. Where do I even begin to discuss 2019's most polarizing and divisive game? Full disclosure, I'm a Hideo Kojima fanboy. I say that, but really I'm more of a Metal Gear Solid fanboy, as I've not played any of Kojima's games other than MGS before Death Stranding. I didn't want to go into Death Stranding as one of those people that are going to say they love the game no matter how they really feel because of the need to defend their fanboyism. I wanted to be as objective as possible. I listen to many video game podcasts and follow a few personalities on Twitter, and they all seemed to be very middle-of-the-road on the game. I watched IGN's corporately manufactured 5 minute video review, and it soured me. I was very close to cancelling my pre-order. Then I watched this in-depth video review and it completely changed my mind.

Let me start by saying that I don't think Death Stranding is for everyone. It's not one of those cases where I can say that if you just give it a chance you're going to fall in love it, because it's not true. You might, but I can't guarantee it, and the game takes several hours before you're doing anything more than delivering packages. I understand every criticism that Death Stranding has received. For me, however, I was enamored from the moment I first took control of Sam Bridges. I never got tired of the game's snail-like pace of chapters 1 and 2. I was so taken in by the game's visuals, story, and feeling of solitude that I found myself not caring that I didn't have enemies to fight or, really, anything else to do than just walk to the objective. If there were ever a game that one could dismissively call a "walking simulator," Death Stranding is that game, at least for the beginning hours.

Many reviewers have said that the game starts to pick up around chapter 3 when your traversal options improve, and that's true, but that's also where something else happened for me. My Pastor has often said that when he decided to start his own church that he no longer lived for himself but began to live for everyone around him. Chapter 3 of Death Stranding had that effect on me. When I gained the ability to repair roads, build bridges, safe houses, shelters, generators, and eventually zip-lines, I felt like I was no longer playing just for me but for all of the players that would come across a structure I built that could help them along their journey. I spent several hours collecting materials just to rebuild roads from one distribution center to another. I meticulously placed zip-lines in the mountains so other players wouldn't have to be slowed down by the heavy snow accumulation. I would place post boxes in remote areas with extra pairs of boots or all-terrain skeletons in case someone got stuck out there without them. And I would be lying if I said it didn't feel great when I returned to a bridge I had placed in an area I hadn't visited in some time to find that it had received 5,000 likes from my fellow players.

I understand why people got annoyed by needing to constantly skip pointless 5 second cinematics. I understand the tedium of trekking your way back to a private room in order to fast travel. I understand the annoyance of having so many systems to grasp. I understand the frustration of losing your balance or having to console BB if you take a tumble. I understand the feeling of being unprepared when the game suddenly decides that you have to fight enemies. But, simply put, those things never bothered me. Well, maybe the sudden combat sections did a little bit.

As expected, you get a lot of pointless exposition, especially in the game's waning hours, but those extensive scenes are much fewer and further between than you would see in Metal Gear Solid. But I enjoy Kojima's stories, as nuts as they can get, so I relish those overly done cutscenes. I enjoyed the twist regarding BB and trying to figure out the connection between BB and Cliff Unger. I loved the way every character had a stupidly literal name. I loved the apocalyptic story and how it made absolutely no sense in anyone's head except Kojima himself. I grew attached to BB to the point that during a specific section of the game, I got bummed out because I had to go it alone for a brief period. We felt like a team.

I genuinely loved every moment I put into Death Stranding, never once growing bored or annoyed by what the game asked me to do. The "slog" never felt like a slog to me. I will reiterate, however, that this is not a game that everyone is going to enjoy, but if you click with it, you're going to be in for an experience you've never had in gaming before.

1. Resident Evil 2

Last year I gushed about how good the PS4 remake of Shadow of the Colossus was. I said "this is how you remake a game." This year, I have to update that statement. Capcom's remake of Resident Evil 2, that's how you remake a game. As someone who has been on the Resident Evil bandwagon since its inception, defended titles like Resident Evil 5 and Operation Raccoon City, and even decided to come back to the series after if hurt me so bad with Resident Evil 6, I feel qualified to attest to its quality. In my eyes, the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 is on par with Resident Evil 4 as the best game in the series.

The original RE2 was already a classic, heralded by fans as a top entry in the franchise and almost unanimously considered the best of the PSone era. The 2019 remake kept enough intact from the original that fans felt a sense of calming familiarity while changing enough to keep it fresh without detracting from the original's legacy. I felt like I knew everything the game was going to throw at me. My first time through, I remember thinking to myself that I was in the area that Mr. X appears but I wouldn't have to worry about him until I played through the game's B scenario. Imagine my surprise when I made my way through the dark corridors, approaching the previously flame-engulfed helicopter and noticing some vague movement coming from behind it, only to have the hulking monster move the chopper out of the way with a single, swift movement. That's the kind of stuff other companies need to take into consideration when remaking a classic.

Speaking of Mr. X, how great of a menace did he turn out to be? When he appeared, I again expected it to be like the original where he would give chase for a room or two and then reappear at predetermined sections of the game to antagonize you some more. Rinse and repeat. But no, only a handful of safe zones exist for you to seek respite after his glorious entrance, and he never stops. He's a lot like a Terminator. You can't stop it, you can't kill it, and he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. With a remake in the same vein being announced for Resident Evil 3, I'm interested to see how they employ this tactic with Nemesis.

Resident Evil 2 controls and looks better than the series ever has, putting the RE Engine to great use. While the fixed camera angles of the original meant that you may hear enemies before you see them and led to some tense moments and jump scares, this update uses the now standard over-the-shoulder perspective and provides its tension by beautiful use of light and shadow, or rather, a lack of light and emphasis on shadow. Many areas in the game are in near complete darkness, so you only see whatever your flashlight illuminates directly in front of you. Uneasiness permeates around every corner as you hope you have a clear path to your next objective. Unfortunately, that's almost never the case. Resident Evil began as a true survival-horror series, where running from conflict was usually the best option and ammo conservation was crucial to making it out alive. It got away from that mantra with the next couple of console generations, but came back in a big way with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and kept that momentum up with this game.

Resident Evil is in a great place right now. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Resident Evil 3's remake tops my list next year. RE3 was always a personal favorite and an underrated entry in my eyes, and the announcement of the remake made it one of the few 2020 games I'm looking forward to.

There you have it, my top 10 games of the year. I hope you've enjoyed reading, and I'll see you in the next article.

-TheDustinThomas

Top 5 "Metroidvanias" That Aren't Metroid Or Castlevania

The "metroidvania" genre, as it's come to be known (for better or worse), is my favorite genre of video game. For the uninitiated, "metroidvania" is a portmanteau fusing Nintendo's long-running Metroid series with Konami's classic Castlevania games. While Metroid has used its particular mechanics since the beginning, Castlevania perfected the genre when they adopted the Metroid-style with 1997's Symphony of the Night, heralded by many--including myself--as one of the best games ever made.

To make it simple, a metroidvania is defined as any game where acquiring items allows the player to backtrack to previously inaccessible areas in order to progress. There's a bit more to it than that, but that's the gist of it. I do think that there is a level of subjectivity, however. For instance, despite being one of my favorite games of 2018, I don't consider Dead Cells to be compliant with my personal interpretation.

For the purposes of this list, let me give you the parameters of what I consider a metroidvania:

1. It has to be 2D. Even though there are great 3D games that fit the bill, such as Batman Arkham Asylum, Darksiders, and if you really want to reach, early Resident Evil games, I believe that the metroidvania is inherently a 2D genre.

2. It has to have one contiguous world. I must be able to walk from the beginning of the game to the end of the game and back again in order to qualify. This is why I don't believe Dead Cells fits. Even though the layout of the individual levels and the map are obviously inspired by the founding fathers, once you progress to a new area, there's no going back.

3. Backtracking and roadblocks. Areas of the world must be blocked off until a certain item or criteria are met. This eliminates another favorite game of mine: Rogue Legacy, which doesn't hinder accessibility in any way, you can explore the entire castle from the start if you're good enough.

Before we begin, I would just like to say that I have deemed Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night ineligible. I did this because it is so obviously intended to be a Symphony of the Night successor and was created by the man most closely associated with SotN. Let's call it what it is. It's Symphony of the Night 2.

But let me be clear about it. If it had been eligible to make this list, it would undoubtedly be number one. It's outstanding, and every fan of the genre and/or the Castlevania series owes it to themselves to play it.

As is customary, let's give some shout-outs to some games that didn't quite make the top five.

Aliens Infestation

The best game based on the iconic Alien franchise and the closest you're going to get to a horror game on the Nintendo DS. Features a semi-permadeath system and an excellent ending theme.

Guacamelee!

Good, varied combat combined with fun and challenging platforming. A great sense of humor that is sometimes hindered by its constant references to internet humor.

Yoku's Island Express

Perhaps the most surprising and delightful game of the generation. Upbeat and original, this game takes pinball and does something original with it.

Owlboy

Great gameplay, but the thing I loved most about Owlboy were the story and characters. It covers topics of loneliness, inferiority, and not fitting in, but is also an uplifting tale of a ragtag group of misfits saving the world.

5. Steamworld Dig/2

Let's start this top five list by cheating and putting two games in one slot. At its core, Steamworld Dig is a game with one objective: just keep digging. It's a simple concept that works exceptionally well. The sequel--released in 2017--definitely delves deeper into the metroidvania concept by emphasizing repeated trips through areas after new gear is acquired, but I still feel the original fits the description. In some ways, I find the simplicity of the original more refreshing than its more ambitious sequel. Steamworld Dig 2 is definitely the more polished game, but when I get a hankering for Steamworld, I go for the original, which I've played a handful of times at this point.

There's something oddly addicting about digging, going to the surface to sell your gems, upgrading, and returning to the caverns to dig some more. There isn't much in the way of combat, but they have a great cast of characters, and the puzzles in the many smaller dig sites are satisfying to solve. Though combat isn't a major focus, enemies can still pose a problem, but the greater nuisance are the many stage hazards such as acid and inadvertently digging in a way that causes you to crush yourself.

Steamworld Dig can be finished in about 4-5 hours, with the sequel lasting double that time depending on how much of a completion percentage you're going for. While there are games in the Steamworld...uh, world...that venture into other genres (Heist is a turn-based strategy game while Quest is a card-battler), the Dig games are easily my favorites and the ones I recommend the most.

4. The Mummy Demastered

If there is any game on this list that took me by surprise, it's The Mummy Demastered. I don't think anyone expected anything special from a "de-make" based on a rebooted monster movie that completely flopped. That's only exacerbated by the fact that The Mummy Demastered was developed by WayForward Technologies, whose games are very hit or miss for me. It's as if their games are either completely outstanding (Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, Aliens Infestation) or the most average things you'll ever play (Shantae: Risky's Revenge, A Boy and His Blob) with no in between.

Despite being recommended to me by a friend, I decided to wait until the game went on sale, which it did at the tail end of 2017. It was the game that I started 2018 off with, but had I played it in 2017, it definitely would have made my top ten list that year, probably in the top five somewhere, which says a lot considering that that was the year that saw the releases of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon Zero Dawn, and many other great games.

The Mummy Demastered has you taking on the role of a nameless soldier working for Prodigium under the command of Dr. Henry Jekyll (who speaks to you in the form of a pixelated Russell Crowe). If the player dies, rather than starting over from the previous save, the player takes control of a new soldier who must find the now zombified remains of his former comrade to regain their equipment/weaspons, somewhat similar to the Dark Souls formula.

The game isn't overly difficult, and much in the same way that Alucard is ludicrously overpowered by the end of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, your soldier(s) will likewise be laying waste to the hordes of evil with little effort by the game's conclusion. The array of weapons is plentiful and fun to use, and you're never at a want for ammunition. Certain areas can get tedious with backtracking, but I never found myself bored. For the most part, the different areas are interesting and I don't remember enemy types being reused often. The boss fights are pretty simple, though there was one that required a bit of trial and error.

The Mummy Demastered is a modern day horror take on a genre that's normally reserved for the sci-fi and fantasy. It's like Castlevania with modern weaponry, and that's not a bad thing.

3. Ori and the Blind Forest

Many metroidvania games employ difficult platforming challenges. Oftentimes they are used as a roadblock to non-essential items that players can choose to either acquire or forego, typically hidden in the game's secret areas. Guacamelee! is a great example. On the other hand, we have Ori and the Blind Forest, where overcoming difficult traversal sections is an integral part of the game. It's very possible that Ori's platforming prevented players from finishing. The combat can be challenging at times, but most of your deaths will come from an ill-timed or missed jump.

This is what makes Ori really stand out. The game is graphically beautiful, has great music, and a touching story (though I could do without the environmentalist message), but the creativity in the platforming design and the tools at your disposal to solve its platforming puzzles is what elevates Ori from good to great.

If Ori does anything wrong, it's the fact that there are certain areas that can't be returned to following some world-altering story events. My word of advice would be to make sure that you find all upgrades in these areas before continuing with the story. While not a huge deal, I did miss a HP upgrade that I wasn't able to go get when I got to the cleanup portion of my playthrough, which was mildly annoying.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is scheduled for an early 2020 release and is one of my most anticipated games of next year.

2. Axiom Verge

Axiom Verge is the game on this list that most closely resembles the forefather of the metroidvania: Nintendo's Metroid. Axiom Verge wears its inspiration on its sleeve, with the world of Sudra being very obviously inspired by Metroid's Zebes. Where the game's really diverge from one another is with the story. Whereas Metroid at its base level is about a bounty hunter trying to thwart an evil group of space pirates from using the titular Metroid alien species for galactic domination, Axiom Verge is more of a mind-bending sci-fi tale about unknown worlds and realities.

Now, don't ask me to explain what exactly happens in Axiom Verge because I literally read the plot synopsis right before writing these words to give myself a refresher and I still don't fully understand it. But what I do understand about Axiom Verge is that it's dripping with atmosphere. Metroid thrived on the feeling of isolation and loneliness, and while Axiom Verge does that to a degree, I find that its strength is the fear of the unknown. The first time you encounter Elsenova, a being belonging to a war machine race of giants known as the Rusalki, it can be quite intimidating. Even though you quickly realize that the rooms containing the Rusalki beings are safe zones, you can't help but feel uneasy around them.

Axiom Verge has no shortage of ways to find your way through Sudra. Some weapons are only useful in certain situations or against specific enemies, but the experimentation it provides is worth the exploring needed to find each new gadget. Like any good metroidvania, Axiom Verge adds new traversal methods throughout, as well as a plethora of secrets to uncover, whether they be hidden areas or messages in an unknown language you must decode. If you're a fan of sci-fi and want a true homage to Metroid, you can't do much better than this one.

1. Hollow Knight

I played Hollow Knight early this year after hearing great things about from many people for a long time. It's been several months since I finished it, but I find myself still thinking about Hollow Knight regularly. When I was still playing, I would read wikis about it because I was so invested in its world. I wanted to know more about the characters, I wanted to know more about the fall of the insect kingdom, I wanted to know more about the titular Hollow Knight. All these months later, I still find myself occasionally looking up more information about various aspects of the game. While the world is what I consider to be Hollow Knight's greatest strength, the other things is does right should not be overlooked.

Let me change course just a little bit before returning to Hollow Knight. The Simpsons is my all-time favorite television show despite the fact that I haven't watched a new episode in a decade and a half. In its heyday, The Simpsons was a phenomenon, and the reason for this was because the town of Springfield is chock-full of memorable characters. While the show was great in its first seasons, around season three they really started to shift focus to the town and its residents and using the Simpson family as the central characters to drive each episode, and that's when they really began to hit their stride. Without characters like Mr. Burns, Chief Wiggum, Apu, Principal Skinner, Krusty the Klown, and innumerable others, The Simpsons wouldn't have survived to the point that we all now want it to die.

Hollow Knight is very similar to The Simpsons in this regard. Hollow Knight has a lot of interesting characters, many of which you may never meet because of how vast the world of Hollownest is. The Last Stag is the character that helps the Knight fast-travel and gives information about what each areas used to be like before Hollownest's fall. I loved hearing about the world that I would never see. I took an interest in Cornifer, wondering why he was so intent on mapping out the land. I found the Nailmasters to be fascinating, like old martial arts masters handing down the skills to their successors. Why is there a group of circus performers known as the Grimm Troupe and what is their motivation? And the list of characters goes on from there.

Combat can be difficult, but the different abilities you can equip at will (once earned or found) can even the playing field. In lieu of potions that you can stash for the opportune time, Hollow Knight employs a meter that increases with every successful hit on an enemy that can be used at the player's discretion. The downfall being that the Knight needs to be stationary when using it, so if you're down to your last hit during a boss battle, you have to weigh the risks of when to use it. It's an added challenge but I like the risk/reward idea behind it.

Hollow Knight is by far the longest game I've mentioned here, clocking in for me at just over 20 hours with lots of side quests and items that I never did or received. There's a lot of game here, but it's worth digging in for. This game also has a sequel on the way, and unlike the original where I waited for the game to go on deep discount, Hollow Knight Silksong will be a day one purchase.

Thanks for reading,
-TheDustinThomas